Submitted by Anna Davies on Thu, 26/05/2011 - 09:56
Scientists from Cambridge will be taking part in the "Bats and Bugs" exhibit at the Royal Society 'Science Live' festival. The exhibit will showcase the multi-disciplinary research programme led by Prof. James Wood (Cambridge) and Prof. Andrew Cunningham (Zoological Society of London) on the ecology and epidemiology of bat-borne pathogens.
The focus will be on research on the African Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat Eidolon helvum, which forms large colonies throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Interactive displays and games will be used to illustrate three main aspects of the work:
- field techniques to track fruit bats and study their ecology
- molecular biology for virus discovery
- sociological surveys aiming to understand how people interact with bats and how they perceive risks of infection
The Cambridge team consists of Prof James Wood, Dr David Sargan, Dr Olivier Restif and graduate students Kate Baker, David Hayman, Alexandra Kamins and Alison Peel.The main partners are Prof Andrew Cunningham (ZSL), Dr Pablo Murcia (University of Glasgow), Prof Tony Fooks (AHVLA), Dr Richard Suu-Ire (Wildlife Division, Ghana) and Dr Linfa Wang (AAHL in Australia).
The Festival takes place between 5th-10th July at Carlton House Terrace, London
Official website: http://royalsociety.org/summer-science/2011/bats-bugs/
If you would like to get involved in public engagement activities related to infectious diseases, we’d like to hear from you.